The Alabama American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) has endorsed the Libertarian Party candidate, Rick Chandler, for Alabama State Senate District 3. District 3 includes Morgan County and portions of western Madison and eastern Limestone counties. Chandler, a retired engineer from Huntsville, is a challenging Republican incumbent Arthur Orr.
Nationally, the AFL-CIO is the largest federation of unions in the U.S., representing more than 12 million active and retired workers. The largest unions currently in the AFL-CIO are the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).
Chandler thanked the organization for the endorsement and gave credit to unions. “The Libertarian party continuously seeks to bring in citizens from across all walks of life to form a more harmonious society,” Chandler said. “Even those workers not part of a union have benefitted from their activities to help people achieve an acceptable standard of life, since large corporations must now strive harder to keep their workforces well compensated and working in a safe environment.”
Chandler continued, “The Alabama AFL-CIO represents many hard-working, tax-paying, independent-minded Americans. I greatly appreciate their endorsement and look forward to working with them after we win this fall.”
The Libertarian Party gained ballot access this year for the first time in more than two decades following a big push to collect enough signatures in support of the party. Danny Wilson, an Alabama Libertarian Party leader, has expressed frustration over what he sees as a “media blackout” concerning libertarian candidates that aren’t being covered for the upcoming Alabama elections.
According to the News Courier, Chandler has also been endorsed by LetBamaVote, an organization that advocates the rights of citizens to place statutes and constitutional amendments on ballots and to ratify or reject statutes.
